The List Archives From celebrity

‘The Artist’ a front-runner as Oscar nominations are set to be announced

For the first time in nearly eight decades, a black-and-white silent film is the favorite to take home the best picture Oscar. The French film “The Artist,” a love letter to Hollywood’s Golden Age featuring no actors recognizable to American audiences and almost no spoken dialogue, has emerged as the front-runner heading into the nominations

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Sundance 2012: Spike Lee: Studios ‘know nothing about black people’

Film festival screenings can take some unexpected turns. But unexpected is an understatement for what happened when Spike Lee took the stage Sunday night at the Sundance Film Festival to field questions about his new film, “Red Hook Summer.” After introducing the cast and principals of the low-budget independent — about a bible-thumping preacher and

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Sundance 2012: Ai Weiwei screening becomes a political event

The Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei has inspired activist gatherings around the world with his work and his statements about democracy. But on Sunday a new movie about him brought the politics of protest to a different place: a movie theater. “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival’s Library Center Theatre

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Producers Guild Awards: ‘The Artist’ takes home top honors

The Producers Guild of America gave its top prize to “The Artist” Saturday night, confirming the black-and-white film’s status as an Oscar front-runner heading into the nominations for the 84th Academy Awards Tuesday morning. The PGA and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have agreed on best picture winners the last four years.

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Scorsese, Clooney and more in Envelope Directors’ Roundtable

They have worked in diverse disciplines — acting, screenwriting, theater, television, exploitation films — were born in three countries and have made radically dissimilar movies. But there’s a lot more that unifies the five filmmakers who recently came together at the Los Angeles Times for the third annual Envelope Directors’ Roundtable. For one thing, their

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Sundance 2012: Bawdy flicks with chicks, but don’t say ‘Bridesmaids’

Dramas at the Sundance Film Festival for a long time came in two shades — dark and darker. At this year’s gathering, though, filmgoers are being treated to a cluster of very different movies: risque, female-driven comedies that would make the women of “Bridesmaids” proud — or blush. A film about three young women indulging

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An Appreciation: Etta James

Etta James appreciation: Simple lyrics took on deeper meaning when sung by Etta James. Her unmatched song styling helped bring West Coast R&B to prominence. To get a sense of the distance that singer Etta James traveled in her life, and the influence she had on American popular music, head back to a hotel room

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Movie Projector: Fourth ‘Underworld’ to soar higher than ‘Red Tails’

The fourth movie in Sony Pictures’ “Underworld” vampire series should lead the box office this weekend as Hollywood hopes to continue what has been a strong January in theaters. While people who have seen prerelease audience surveys are confident “Underworld: Awakening” will debut with between $ 20 million and $ 25 million, there’s less certainty

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‘Haywire’ review: Gina Carano kicks serious butt

Director Steven Soderbergh‘s “Haywire,” starring the marvelous mixed martial arts mastery of Gina Carano, makes one thing perfectly clear: Bad things happen in Barcelona. And if you’re in the assassination and espionage game, which Carano’s Mallory Kane is, you just might find yourself on the wrong end of a gun. Or, in Mallory’s case, relentless

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